Bill and Melinda Gates have donated $1 million to a gun control campaign working to expand background checks in Washington state.
The Initiative 594 campaign now has close to $6 million thanks to the Gates donation, the New York Daily News reports. It would make background checks a universal requirement for gun sales in the state.
I-594 “will be an effective and balanced approach to improving gun safety in our state by closing existing loopholes for background checks,” the Gates said in a statement Monday.
A counter initiative, I-591, would prevent Washington from adopting background-check requirements that exceed national standards, according to the Daily News, and has about $1 million so far.